Chapter Text
The night of the full moon, once every month, signals Inuyasha’s change to his human form. The one night of the month that always seemed to be the most dangerous, their protector was practically incapacitated. The night of the new moon always puts everyone on edge.
They were all walking towards the next village they had planned to visit when Kagome had sensed the presence of the Shikon no Tama so they rerouted their course to where Kagome had pointed them to go.
Kagome stuck closer to Inuyasha than usual. She might not have any abilities or weapons that could match the power and destruction that Tessaiga unleashed but it put her mind at ease to always be close by with her bow.
Shippo stayed perched on Inuyasha’s left shoulder as he kept an eye on his surroundings and rambled on about how he was mad that he couldn’t be in the last battle. If Inuyasha knew that Shippo sat on his shoulder to offer his abilities as protection if they were needed, Inuyasha would have pushed him off a long time ago. Inuyasha liked the company that Shippo offered but he often complained about it on the night of the new moon so the others wouldn’t see him as being weak while in his human form.
Miroku and Sango walked side by side behind the rest of the group. With Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo distracted, Miroku’s hand inched towards Sango’s butt to give it a squeeze like usual. The loud slap that followed prompted the end of Inuyasha and Shippo’s conversation as they turned around to see what was going on.
“You lecherous monk! What have I told you about your wandering hands?” Sango was fuming with her hand raised towards Miroku.
Right as she was about to deliver the second slap, Kagome realized the quickly darkening sky at the same time that Inuyasha did. Inuyasha was the first to speak.
“We need to find a place to rest for the night before the moon rises,” Inuyasha started to speed up and everybody else followed at the faster speed.
They reached a small clearing among the trees off of the path they were following. Inuyasha went off to gather wood to make a small fire and Kagome searched her bag for any food they could eat for dinner instead of relying on someone to hunt. Splitting up on the night of the new moon never ends well and is practically asking for someone to find them. However, there wasn’t any food in Kagome’s bag that could satisfy their hunger.
Miroku and Sango took their time getting comfortable-Sango putting a considerable distance between her and Miroku after she had to slap him again for his antics-and Inuyasha returned with loose sticks and logs that he got outside of the clearing for a fire.
“We can keep the fire going tonight. The tops of the trees will keep the smoke from giving off our location if someone is watching,” Inuyasha got started on building the fire.
“Inuyasha, I don’t have enough food for all of us. Should we go out to look for something to eat?” Kagome stood up but Inuyasha stopped her from going into the forest.
Inuyasha was just about to say that he was going to go look for food when the crinkle sound of a candy wrapper stopped him. Kagome and Inuyasha turned towards the sound to see Shippo munching on a piece of candy that Kagome had brought with her the last time she came through the well.
“Shippo! What are you eating? Give me that!” Inuyasha started to reach for the candy as Shippo hid it behind his back. Before any fighting could start…
“Inuyasha, sit!” The Beads of Subjugation glowed and Inuyasha’s body was pulled to the ground.
“Ow! What was that for?” Kagome crossed her arms as Inuyasha peeled his body off of the dirt and grass while rubbing his chest to relieve the ache.
“That was for trying to take the candy that I gave to Shippo!” Shippo took the candy from behind his back when he knew that Inuyasha would no longer try to take it.
“Well you didn’t have to sit me,” Inuyasha rolled his eyes at Kagome.
“...” Kagome ignored what Inuyasha said to bring up the more pressing matter.
“I don’t have any food with me for us to eat and if it isn’t safe to go look for some, we will have to wait till the morning to eat,” Kagome said as she looked at everybody.
Miroku spoke for the first time since they had chosen a spot to rest for the night.
“As much as I know we would all like to go find some food, wandering away from our spot might be more dangerous than not having all of our energy because of hunger. It would be better if we all waited to eat,” Everybody nodded in agreement with Miroku’s idea and picked where they were going to sleep for the night.
Miroku slowly inched towards Sango but she threw a glare at him to stop his movements before he continued when she looked away. Right as he was about to move an inch closer, the last ray of light left the sky.
All of them noticed it right away as Inuyasha’s long silver hair turned black, his claws turned to human nails, his ears disappeared, and his fangs got shorter. All of the talking had ceased as they watched his transformation take place. The nervousness among each of them got worse and worse as their vulnerability became even more apparent.
“Now all we have to do is get through tonight,” Inuyasha said as he propped Tessaiga against his right shoulder and crossed his arms in front of the sheath. His eyes fell closed as he leaned back against the tree.
“Kagome?” Shippo’s small voice made Kagome turn her attention from watching Inuyasha to Shippo instead.
“Yes, Shippo?” Shippo wrung his hands together.
“Is it going to be just as bad as last time?” Kagome gave Shippo a smile to reassure him that it would be better tonight.
During the night of the new moon last month, the bandits that had found them did some damage to Inuyasha and Miroku. Inuyasha had gotten a cut to his right leg that left him having a hard time walking the next morning but thankfully, he was able to heal it quickly when the sun started to rise. Miroku’s Wind Tunnel had been bothering him prior to the fight and he was injured trying to fight alongside Inuyasha.
The injuries they had gotten had scared Shippo enough that he was still nervous about it a month later.
“We will be alright. It won’t be as bad as last month,” Kagome ruffled Shippo’s hair as she reassured him.
Kagome noticed the silence around her. Miroku was sitting silently by the fire and had surprisingly backed off from Sango after the second or third slap she had given him. Sango had drifted off sometime while Kagome, Inuyasha, and Shippo were talking, Kirara curled up next to Sango’s back as if she was going to be the barrier between Sango and whatever danger had most likely followed them.
The sounds of insects in the trees around them covered the sound of the crackling fire. Miroku still sat next to the fire to warm his hands but Kagome decided to keep what she wanted to say to herself. It wasn’t often that Miroku spent his time thinking in silence rather than making moves on Sango or talking Inuyasha’s ear off about the woman he had just asked to bear his children.
Kagome leaned back against the tree behind her. Without any kind of bedroll or a sleeping bag, sleeping against a tree was the only option without having to sleep on the dewy grass. Miroku fell asleep not long after Kagome settled in for the night, his light snores carrying across the clearing.
Looking up towards the sky, Kagome thought about what would happen during the night. There was no way of knowing who would find them or if they would end up having a restful, undisturbed night. However, with their history with every restart of the moon cycle, there was close to no possibility of not running into trouble with Inuyasha in his human form.
Kagome’s hunger urged her to find something to eat but her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own as they fell closed.
Kagome had only been sleeping for no more than 10 minutes when Inuyasha’s scream jolted her awake. Miroku and Sango woke up from the little bit of sleep they had been able to get when Inuyasha had screamed. Shippo woke up as well from where he had been sleeping next to Sango and Kirara.
They all looked at each other as they realized that Inuyasha was no longer in the clearing with them.
His scream continued to echo through the forest.